I’ve been following this ongoing Joe Paterno/Penn State debacle for most of the week. If you’d like to read real stories about it, go here to Gawker/Deadspin’s ongoing reporting. The basic gist is that Penn State’s Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky was raping young children in the showers, and when Penn State’s legendary coach Joe Paterno was told about it by an eyewitness, he simply informed Penn State’s athletic director, who then began a coverup involving several key administrators. There’s additional evidence to suggest that Paterno knew a lot more, but kept quiet and allowed the coverup to take place. Well, everything just went crazy this week, and Paterno thought that he could just quietly retire, but he just got fired yesterday. Riots ensued on the Penn State campus – Paterno is a beloved figure, yes, but are those kids seriously rioting because they didn’t think he should lose his job for failing to inform law enforcement about children being raped?!? I don’t care if football is a “religion”. When children are being violently assaulted, YOU DO SOMETHING. And yes, people are going to get fired, rioters.

Anyway, I wouldn’t be talking about any of this except that a douchey celebrity has now inserted his d-bag self into the whole controversy.

Following an avalanche of criticism, Ashton Kutcher deleted a controversial Tweet Wednesday night protesting the firing of Joe Paterno, admitting he hadn’t known about the sex-abuse scandal at Penn State.

“How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste,” Kutcher wrote to his 8 million Twitter followers.

His followers responded with an explosion of insults, many of them extremely vicious, blasting the actor for defending the 84-year-old coach, who is under fire for possibly covering up former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky’s alleged sex abuse of young boys.

It’s funny because Ashton Kutcher is a g–damn fraud. It’s funny because Mr. Real-Men-Don’t-Enslave-Children was defending a person who helped do just that. And seriously, how can you hear the Joe Paterno was fired and NOT hear WHY it happened? Watch the news for two minutes, you’ll get the gist.

I keep thinking that world is spinning backwards on its axis when people riot over people doing the RIGHT THING. It’s absolutely sickening that this was covered up in the first place and every single person who knew about it SHOULD be fired. Sandusky is a sick f*k and deserved to be fired.

If the douche legitimately didn’t know I give him a pass and props for apologizing. I’m neither an American nor a football (?) fan so I wasn’t aware of this story. It sounds likes something Asston should have known about but maybe he really is that clueless?

People aren’t rioting because of Sandusky, they’re rioting over Paterno, who did report everything to his superiors. They’re the ones who didn’t report it, and we can’t even name them. I’m not saying Paterno is blameless, but he’s getting a lot of heat when the fire should be more wide spread.

I can’t believe he had no idea what was going on with Paterno & PSU. How far up your own ass do you have to be to have missed a week’s worth of stories discussing this? Even if I gave him the benefit of the doubt, how in the world do you not read the article you link in your own tweet?

I hate to give Kutcher the benefit of the doubt, but I will believe that he hadn’t learned the details or knew that it involved child abuse. It is possible that he wasn’t really watching the news this week.

This makes me absolutely sick, it is beyond my comprehension that the assistant(?)or whatever the man’s title was who witnessed the acts in progress and didnt’t stop them. It makes my heart sick-I would have beat that old man’s ass within an inch of his life, not walk away and tell someone the next day and let that poor child be violated. It’s hard to see visual reminders of how f**ked up this world is.

How do you not know this is why he was fired?? It’s ALL over the news-and it’s been going on for days. Several people were fired prior to Paterno. I think it’s so sad that he has to go out on this note-but it’s way more tragic that so many kids were abused by Sandusky and the school helped cover it up. Kutcher just continues to show what a complete moron he is.

Paterno is a legally a mandatory reporter, and MUST report abuse like this to the authorities. He told his boss, who did nothing, and JP allowed a known child molester to keep on doing it for seven+ years. The only reason he won’t wind up in prison with a bunch of others (which is going to happen), is because of his age.

Q: if you were a teacher, and knew a coworker was raping children, what would you do? Legally, you should call the authorities, but let’s say you went to your Principal and told them, and s/he did nothing. Are you telling me you would just shrug and think, “Oh well!” I sincerely hope not.

This country and it’s kneeling to the bread and circus religion of Big Sports sickens me. The amount of people rationalizing Joe Pat’s CRIMINAL behavior appalls me.

I haven’t posted in ages, but when I saw the headline to this bit, I shouted aloud “ARE you F%^&ING KIDDING ME???” How anyone can stand by the man who knew that pedophile was raping kids (due to being told by a grad student in 2002) and did not go immediately to the police is beyond me.

That the guy who is replacing Paterno WAS that grad student, and that guy didn’t go to the police either – well shame on Penn state for not totally cleaning house. The whole situation sounds like a new circle in Dante’s inferno.

And I’m confounded that the student body rioted in support (as if a riot is ever supportive) of Paterno is mind boggling as well.

‘As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed.’

What the hell does that mean? Is he trying to act as if it’s someone else’s fault? I’ve got an idea Ashton, STFU. Not every thought that passes through his wind tunnel of a brain is worth sharing. Twitter is for idiots and he proves it.

Goddamn folks need to find productive outlets. He apologized. He hadn’t heard. Why harp after an apology (or two or three) has been issued.
I’m not a Kutcher fan, he was funny on 70s Show but now he appears to have gone the way of the douche. But that’s beside the point. Too many folks are just out for blood these days.

You said it Kaiser it is a Religion. Football players and their coaches are treated like gods in this country. . If what I read was correct one of the mom’s did go to the cops and the district attorney told her they were not pursuing the case. It is incredible the lengths these villians went to cover-up/protect an alleged rapist. It is very sad about the way Paterno went down but he and many others should have had the courage to do the right thing no matter the cost years ago.

One of my former classmates felt that Joe Pa show go out with dignity and I got reamed for thinking otherwise. I am not a parent, but I am very black and white when it comes to the violation/hurting of kids. Sandusky basically had his pick and called it charity. McQueary sold his soul for a job (why has he not been fired or have charges brought). When it happens to kids, my blood just boils. If this happened to some benefactors children or grandchildren heads would have rolled a long time ago. Since it was some poor kids they figured they would not talk or believed. As for Kutcher, I am not surprised. He is just dumb.

Of course he should’ve checked into why Paterno was fired, that goes without saying.
But it’s entirely true that not everyone watches every single news story. I don’t watch the news sometimes if it’s all horrible and negative every day.

Oh Ashton, why don’t you just go don a pair of geek, black-rimmed spectacles…much like your wife and like Madonna in the Harper photo-shoot and just PRETEND that you are thought-provoking and academic?

He’s SUCH a pretentious bastard. His only fervent wish is to be taken seriously. He’s such a tool, and everything he touches professionally is so brain-numbing, so he overcompensates by trying to appear to be a brainiac…which, of all things he is not! Isn’t it plain for all to see this?

Look, I’m not even ‘following’ this Jo Paterno story and I KNOW it involves sexual abuse against children. What in the actual fuck is this Kutcher person on any damn way? I honestly don’t believe how someone who seems so self-obsessed with social media hasn’t heard one detail about Jo Paterno’s case. I just don’t believe it. Kutcher is a damn moron.

What a dumbass. Can’t he just quit everything and go away so we don’t have to see him and his stupidity?

I’m a Penn State alum who attended every football game when I was there, and I’ve gone back over the years several times as well. It was a great, fun part of my college experience. And I’m am absolutely sickened by what happened, and agree with the firings.
There are no excuses for those involved, and I’m really disturbed that the eyewitness (a grown man) not only didn’t try to intervene and stop what he saw, but then didn’t even call the police. I’m disturbed that none of the people who were then subsequently told about this did a damn thing besides try to pass the buck to the next level and cover their own asses. And I’m disturbed that some students feel it’s appropriate to riot because JoePa got the boot.
It’s OK to be sad, and it’s OK to be upset because JoePa did a lot of great things for the university and his legacy is now severely tarnished. But Jesus, people! If you want to protest, go stand outside the administration and scream at them for trying to protect a guy witnessed doing unspeakable things to children. None of the adults are the victims here.

jc126: but do you tweet about it? He posted about it without finding out why Paterno had been fired, that’s why he looks douchy.
Tiffany, I don’t think this is over, not by a long shot. I hope that there are more firings, and even more charges against those at Penn State who knew and covered it up to protect their precious football cash cow.
The Superficial has a pretty good post:
“We just sacrificed an old man for a witch hunt. That’s what our society has come to.”
If holding every complicit motherfucker who let kids get raped to protect the reputation of a goddamn sports team accountable is a witch hunt, give me a Pilgrim hat and call me Miles Standish.http://www.thesuperficial.com/joe-paterno-fired-penn-state-riots-11-2011

This makes me absolutely sick, it is beyond my comprehension that the assistant(?)or whatever the man’s title was who witnessed the acts in progress and didnt’t stop them. It makes my heart sick-I would have beat that old man’s ass within an inch of his life, not walk away and tell someone the next day and let that poor child be violated. It’s hard to see visual reminders of how f**ked up this world is.

I’ve been thinking about that for hours now. How could anyone witness someone (ESPECIALLY A CHILD!!!) being raped and not try to stop the perpetrator (calling 911 IMMEDIATELY before trying to stop him)?

Not only he didn’t do anything, he (must have) quietly closed the door, turned his back and went home to discuss with his father whether he should report what he saw (to his superiors, not the police) or not.

Un-f*cking-believable!!!

EDIT:

This is the guy who saw the boy being raped (but didn’t call the police):

I’m confused why the graduate assistant who witnessed the actual rape didn’t go straight to the police? Why was he silent for so long and stay silent when he saw that the pedophile wasn’t in jail? I mean, God forbid if I ever witness a child being sexually abused in any way, I would call the police.

As for Ashton’s tweet: “As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed. I feel awful about this error. Won’t happen again.”

Why is he blaming the twitter feed? He needs to blame air between his ears.

As a person who lives in the State College area, Happy Valley, I am going to use Celebitchy as my sounding board. I have been to Penn State games, watched countless hours, cheered my blue and white on. But when men who know that this kind of abuse is going on and don’t scream it on the street corner, they are held accountable. I know that Penn State is Joe Paterno and Joe Paterno is Penn State, but this is beyond comprension. I have a son and to think that so many people knew this was going on and did nothing or as little as possible makes me sick to my stomach.
To actually walk by a grown man molesting a child and not stop it is beyond my realm of thinking. I would have entered that shower and beat the living crap out of the walking trash heap. To just go and tell somone else (Joe) and then to have Joe go and tell a higher up and NOT call the authorities outside the college is WRONG. Has Joe Paterno giving his life to that college-yes, but what is he left with now. To know that children were being abused and do next to nothing in the end says alot about the men at State College. Sad

I’m also stunned by the fact Mike McQueary is only listed as a witness. He saw the boy being raped and didn’t call the police for crying out loud!!!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but walking away from a crime scene (when you can do something like calling the police and, in this particular case — given that he must be a strong man himself — try to stop the rapist) makes him an accomplice.

Okay, I love this site. I do. But this is really bad and grossly irresponsible reporting. You’ve got some important facts completely wrong, and it’s terrible. Sandusky–the accused molester–was NO LONGER on the coaching staff or an employee of PSU. He hasn’t been for YEARS. The action that is in question happened in 2002 and was NOT rape. Molestation is very serious, but you need to be accurate. And Paterno DID NOT WITNESS the alleged incident. Someone ELSE saw it, went to Paterno and gave him VAGUE information, and Paterno then went to his superiors to report it. To say that he “saw some kid get raped and didn’t do a damn thing” isn’t only untruthful it’s blatantly false and misleading. When b*tching about the Kartrasshians it’s ok to be vague and inaccurate. But this is people’s lives and careers you’re flinging about. The entire situation has become a witch hunt, and firing someone for something that happened nearly 10yrs ago has damaged not only his legacy, the football program’s legacy, the entire university, and potentially tarnished thousands of students’ degrees. It could’ve been handled alot better by a whole bunch of people, that’s for sure. It’s so easy for those of us who don’t really know what happened to say, “I know what I would’ve done in that situation!” but we can’t know unless we’re actually in it.

If youre a football fan who thinks the opening day of NFL is the greatest day ever (despite the fact that it happens to be the same day your fellow citizens got murded in an attack against your own country) You are a BIG fan, and prob knows whats going on.
I bet even the sports news has brought this up.
Im swedish and read the international news once a day and even i knew about this, so hes either the dumbest person on the planet (which could be true)or he is a really big fan of one of the biggest coaches (if i understood things right)in Us history

For Kutcher “advocating” against child sexual slavery/abuse is a tax shelter. Nothing more. And he won’t quit tweeting cause he makes too much money off it (Hilary Swank). As far as Paterno, I think Kaiser is right, he likely new more than he let on and only now he is remorseful. So he went to his “superiors” and nothing was done. I think if I was in his position and I saw nothing being done I would 1) Quit my job (he would’ve been able to get another coaching job) 2) Gone to the police. Also, I am confused why the guy who witnessed all this didn’t pull the pervert off of the young boy, kick him in the balls, and then call the police. It is so twisted, sad, and sick.

@Scarlet Vixen Are you serious with your “NOT RAPE” but molestation comment??!!! Some quotes from a timeline news story (link below)

“March 1, 2002 – A Penn State graduate assistant enters the locker room at the Lasch Football Building. In the showers, he sees a naked boy, known as Victim 2, whose age he estimates to be 10 years old, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The graduate assistant tells his father immediately.”
HOW IS THAT NOT RAPE??!!

Why are people lamenting or straightening out the tarnished legacy of a man who lived a full happy life when there are young boys whose whole lives ahead of them are forever scarred by what happened to them??!!
Bottom line, no one, including Paterno, REALLY stood up for these boys or protected them. The whole lot of them needs to get out of Penn State.

Yeah, I’m not seeing how that wasn’t rape either. Pretty clear that’s what it was.

My understanding is that Sandusky retired in 99, but was allowed access to all the facilities and the assault witnessed was in 2002. God only knows what happened before 2002, too.
The more I think about it, the more disgusted I am by the eyewitness. If you see THAT, you stop it.

As I understand it, the University’s response to the reported rape was to take away Sandusky’s keys to the locker room.

I’m just stunned. WHY would Paterno not hang this dude out to dry ASAP? I unerstand McGuire’s (morally reprehensible and cowardly) reticence owing to the fact he was trying to keep his job. HOWEVER, Joe had NOTHING to lose by reporting this guy. NOTHING. He is g-d Paterno. He would have continued as coach and the Sandusky dude was even retired, so he couldn’t have been all that essential to the team (makes me barf to think that might be someone’s rationale for not reporting). Even if Joe was told only vague things, he should have freaked out, for the very reason of the vagueness!!!

It makes no SENSE! Does Sandusky have something on Paterno? Is Paterno really THAT loyal (again BARF at priorities)?

Eve: I’m also stunned by the fact Mike McQueary is only listed as a witness. He saw the boy being raped and didn’t call the police for crying out loud!!!
===============================================

Unless Pennsylvania has a Good Samaritan law, McQueary can’t be prosecuted as an accessory.

A few years ago a dirtbag named Jeremy Strohmeyer raped and murdered a seven year old girl in a casino restroom in Las Vegas while his friend David Cash watched. Strohmeyer was convicted of first-degree murder, rape, and kidnapping and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms. Cash, a student at UC Berkeley, wasn’t indicted for anything. The students at Berkeley started a petition to get him expelled but the university declined to act on the basis that Cash hadn’t committed a crime. Nevada subsequently passed a Good Samaritan law which makes it a crime not to report a sex crime against a child being committed. If such a law had existed when Strohmeyer raped and killed that child, Cash would be in jail where he belongs.

“But Joe Paterno’s right to do exactly what he pleased makes the fact that he didn’t do more than fulfill his minimum legal obligations particularly distressing, and like all the other people responsible here (and there are many) seems to me, I think he’s lost the right to dictate the terms of his retirement.

Joe Paterno’s right to his dignity is not more valuable than the right of children not to be assaulted by adults.

Anyone who defends Paterno or any of the other as*holes who knew about this is a morally bankrupt idiot. If I see a child being raped, I don’t tell my boss and wash my hands of it. I CALL THE F*CKING POLICE! If one of my employees comes to me and says they saw a co-worker raping a child, I don’t take it to my supervisor, I CALL THE F*CKING POLICE. They knew what was going on and they LET it happen. I hope they all burn in hell.

If any decent human being was in that situation, THEY WOULD CALL THE POLICE.

Stop being a child sexual abuser sympathizer. Yes, Joe did not commit this heinous act…but the fact that he was aware of the situation and didn’t do anything outside of telling his useless director makes him actively part of child abuse.

Paterno told 1 person who did nothing. He ended it at that. He did nothing really. He had an obligation as a coach, not to mention as moral human being, to follow through with this and make sure it was investigated & not swept under the rug.

I hope Joe Paterno rots in the jail cell right next to Sandusky!

To clarify – The eyewitness DID go the authorities. They said they investigated the incident and found nothing! They lied and swept it under the rug because football rules this entire town. MANY people were involved in this cover up. I hope they all burn!!

Paterno was not told it was ‘rape’. At best he was told by McQueary it was ‘horse play’ and at worst ‘fondling’. Obviously, ‘fondling’ is also a bad thing, too. But I’m pretty sure that even Paterno would’ve done much more than he did if he was told by McQueary that he witnessed Sandusky actually raping a child. I’m not defending Paterno–I’m saying that he’s not guilty of what people are accusing him of. It’s sad, but I think what happened is Paterno knew something was wrong but perhaps lacked the stomach or energy as a man of advanced age to take the steps we think he should have.

@ Pauline: Your calling me a molester sympathizer is not only entirely WRONG, it’s offensive and disgusting. I am completely enraged. How dare you?? I think Sandusky is a disgusting pice of sh*t and gets everything he deserves. I have children of my own, and work in a public library where unfortunately we have our share of predators and society’s fringe. Two of my nephews were actually molested by their father at very young ages, and I learned a few years ago that my own father attempted to molest my older sister (his step-daughter). So I am EXTREMELY sensitive to the situation and the hardship these boys have endured, and it’s deplorable. But I also believe that reporting should be accurate, and punishment should be appropriate.

I should also probably add that I’m not a PSU football fan at all. I went to Michigan State (a fellow Big Ten university), so I’m only familiar with PSU, and I’m only an admirer of their women’s volleyball program. But I’m not on the PSU payroll, I promise.

I don’t think this is as big a deal as people are making it out to be (the twitter thing, not the child rape). I didn’t know about this story until yesterday (yeah, I live under a rock), so it’s easy for me to empathize there. Plus, he immediately apologized and accepted fault. Idk, I just don’t get why he is getting so much heat for this.

As for the rest. Disgusting. He should def. have been fired – EVEN IF HE THOUGHT IT WAS FONDLING –, along with every single person who did nothing or didn’t do enough to protect and help any child that had been, would be or could have been in such a situation.

@Scarlet Vixen: an adult male was having forceable anal intercourse with a CHILD and you don’t consider that rape? Wow. Additionally according to the reporter who broke the news, the graduate student began to tell Paterno the full detailed story and he STOPPED him saying he didn’t want to hear all the details. You hear that? He didn’t want to know. He told the graduate student to instead give the full details to the next person up the chain. Joe Paterno was practicing the see no evil, hear no evil, feel no responsibility self-fish game.

I understand people like you, the rioting students and Ashton look up to this guy and yes he is not the only person responsible but he DID have ethical and moral responsibilities that he failed to live up to. He is an adult in a position of power (and hero worship). How quickly would the police have worked on this case if the great Joe Paterno picked up a phone to call them? My God, 8 young boys were raped over a period of 10 years. These kids lives have been ruined and these are the cases that we know of. I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t more cases out there.

I really don’t understand. I’m a WOMAN, & if I had witnessed some grown-ass man performing anal sex…or beejs…or WHATEVER even LOOKED INAPPROPRIATE..I would’ve grabbed SOMETHING and beat the shit out of Sandusky! Seriously, I would do such.

I just don’t understand society sometimes. I don’t care if you’re a janitor, or whatever…you go straight to the police. You go to the reporters of the local newspaper. You become the voice of the one’s who cannot speak for themselves. THE LOUDEST WHEEL GETS THE MOST OIL…hello?! Who doesn’t know that?!

That graduate student…so he just goes to the hierarchy of Penn State football & reports…oh, what a good job dude! I’m being facetious, of course. AN IDIOT GRADUATE STUDENT WHO DOESN’T WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING. Sorry if I’ve offended anyone, but in all our lives I believe we are given an opportunity to “do the right thing,” and many times people just effin DON’T. Makes me sick! I wish some stores SOLD BACKBONES…some people need to buy ‘em!

@scarlet vixen: how about you read the THIRTY-EIGHT page Grand Jury Indictment before you come on here and attack commentators that are LOGICALLY outraged that the religion of sports allowed for children to be abused… it wasnt just one or two unconfirmed accounts of what may or may not have been rape, it was rape, it was years of predatory action against “troubled young boys” with “absent or dysfunctional families”from a “charity” he helped set up… people are right to be outraged that it spanned so many years with so many higher ups KNOWING about what was happening and it continuing to happen with NO POLICE action… please get YOUR facts straight before continuing to stand up for a coach [or anyone] that had the power to save many boys from an obvious predator

Jesus. Read the damned grand jury report before you speak. Spouting off ignorance compounds the problem that VICTIMS face. Let’s also talk about the campus ignoramuses, the students, who also have been rioting in support of Paterno. You’re all alike and should be ashamed.

@ Scarlet Vixon..I sure hope no one ever molests or rapes anyone in your family! You wouldn’t be defending the people who hurt someone in your own family would you? Defending a POS scumbag football coach with a god complex who ALLOWED his pedo buddy to abuse children..that’s allgood! FACT-Children were sodomized! FACT-Joe P knew and didn’t care..WRONG WRONG WRONG!

@T.C. I phrased it wrong–I’m home with 2 sick kiddos and didn’t take the time to clarify. I didn’t mean that noone was raped. I meant that from every single source I have read/heard Paterno was not aware of the seriousness of the act. I apologize to everyone for the confusion. I have not heard that he stopped someone from given him information anywhere. I’m simply trying to point out the error in people claiming that Paterno himself was an eye witness to the act. I completely understand people being incensed at Sandusky’s behavior, but personally I feel more appropriately angry at something when I actually know what I’m angry about.

@IAMROCK: Can you please read before wishing ill will on someone’s family? I HAVE dealt with molestation in my own family–my sister AND my 2 YOUNG nephews for Christ’s sake. I didn’t even mention that I was raped by my own military commander when I was 21yrs old. Get it right! I shouldn’t even dignify your crap with a response. All I said is Paterno did not know the seriousness of the situation–that is ALL I said. There was no defending of ANYONE! Jesus Christ!

I do not ‘look up to’ Paterno–I’m not a fan of his or his program. Like I said, I only admire PSU’s women’s volleyball program, which actually has a very dedicated and long-term coach with a much better winning record than Paterno, but I digress. I don’t think Paterno is blameless AT ALL. I like to think I would have handled the situation differently if I were in his place. I was simply trying to clarify some inaccurate details.

When you or I spread misinformation or poorly/lazily formed opinions, it does NOT reach 8 million people within moments. Kutcher KNOWS and prides himself on having that big of an audience, if not that much of an influence. He should have researched, thought it out, then researched some more before running to a very public forum about an EXTREMELY sensitive on-going situation. If for no other reason than he has been steadily on the outs in the court of public opinion lately, and avoidable stuff like this ain’t helping.

Right or wrong, Paterno has his supporters, and that’s his right if Kutcher wants to come out as one of Paterno’s supporters to his own. But with 8 mil tuning in, he should have the brains/balls to back it up, and not backtrack at backbreaking speeds, blaming others (“the feed”) and further emphasizing his own ignorance of this and most deeper, wider matters (Hillary Swank, anyone?).

Like poster “G” implied, he should stick to selling his wares, not his politics. Just STFU and leave stuff like this to the bigger kids.

“Now here is the detail that, among all the details in the Grand Jury’s extensive depiction of the morally depraved behavior of Sandusky, Curley, Schultz, Paterno, PSU president Graham Spanier, and McQueary, is perhaps the most shocking:

Five years after this, in the spring of 2007, Sandusky was attending PSU football practices with his latest rape victim: a 12-year-old boy who he had met through a Second Mile camp conducted at PSU, and who he was in the process of, among other things, orally sodomizing.

“At this point, McQueary was no longer a graduate assistant, as he had been promoted to an administrative assistant position on the football staff a few months after his meetings with Paterno, Curley and Schultz, and was made a full-fledged assistant coach the following year. So Mike McQueary and Joe Paterno were at the PSU football practices to which Jerry Sandusky was showing up with his latest child rape victim in tow. They saw him, there, with his latest victim. They could not have had any doubt, at that point, about what they were seeing.”

@scarlet vixen I read your additional post. We don’t know all the details and lord I don’t want to know any more! I’m ashamed and saddened about this. You are a Mom and I’m a mom..I think we can agree that the victims deserve our sympathy, not Joe P. I’m sorry to read about the abuse you and your sister faced. I’m also sorry for coming off like an attack in my last post! This story hurts my heart!

@ scarlet vixen
I did read what you wrote. Again I did not or intend to wish ill will on your family, I asked HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?! Clearly you don’t approve or think pedophilia or sexual abuse is OK. Like I said we are both Mothers, it makes my blood boil that in this day and age these horrible things still go on and the perps are able to get away with it for SO LONG..and for what..football? I am sorry that you would think I wished abuse on you, no way!

When Len Bias died of an overdose after signing w/the Boston celtics, the police notified the university of Maryland they would be obtaining a search warrant to go through his things on campus. Then basketball coach Lefty Drisell instructed student to go & remove anything of an incriminating nature. EVERYONE in the Athletic department, EVERY coach of EVERY sport & the ADs were fired.

The same needs to happen at Penn State. Firing the President & Coach Paterno was the correct thing to do & a step in the right direction. Let’s not forget that Paterno wanted to coach out the year….WHY?

Because if h had coached the Saturday game against Nebraska he would have broken the record for most games coached by a NCAA Division I coach.

What a self-serving dirtbag this “hero” turned out to be. When the Nitany Lions hit the field Saturday I hope they play for the victim’s & not the man who helped cover up such horrific crimes.

Scarlet Vixen has a lot of good points and they are facts as we understand them right now (as in, they could change at any moment). The rest is speculation. Let’s try not to lynch each other over Sandusky the a$$hole who actually did the raping… I bet he’s actually relieved that the heat is off of him for now.

Paterno had to go based on political, media and judicial reasons, but let’s face it – Paterno still reported it per university protocol, and at the time, Schultz was considered head of the PSU police. Right there, Paterno DID REPORT IT TO THE AUTHORITIES. Campus police are equal in the eyes of the law compared to any local or state police force. So that’s another ball Schultz dropped. After Schultz and Curley interviewed McQueary, the case was closed and there was no wrongdoing found, and so Paterno let it go. If he would have gone to the police after his supervisors told him explicitly that there was no wrongdoing, that it was merely “horsing around,” he would have been out of a job anyway. He was doomed from the start because he also put his trust in the system. We just have to wait and let the facts flush out as the investigation proceeds.

I think the real victims here, those boys who were involved in that charity, were failed on SO MANY LEVELS of society that it’s sick. It really started with parents letting their 10-year-olds go to Penn State, alone, through a charity with an unknown man. Sandusky is the real criminal and he duped all of us. Also included are the GA (McQueary, now a PSU football coach), Curley and Schultz (out on bail and NOT FIRED!), and Graham Spanier. Look at all that failure. See how you can’t pin it on one person?

Sandusky fits the profile of a predator perfectly. He is well-spoken and I can’t tell you how many people in the media were also fooled by him. He was a man in power and was trusted unconditionally by so many people, and he expertly used that to his sick advantage. You think you can trust your “instincts” with people who look like creeps, but this is yet another example how deceiving they can be!

I’m just SMH right now. And I pity Kutcher because he’s so dumb – Sigh#79 you make an excellent point about reaching his followers instantaneously.

…And off I go to find a blue ribbon to wear. What a cluster of a week for PSU, they may never recover from this.

Kaiser–THANK YOU for writing this! I just got in a huge fight with my dumb bitch of a sister (who went to Penn State) and I pretty much said exactly what you said. Children being raped trumps everything else, and the fact that people *don’t* think heads should roll because of what happened–and the coverup that ensued–truly disgusts me. And all JoePa’s talk about integrity and honor… GROSS!

And why am I not shocked that Ashton K. supports Paterno? He is gross, too, and this simply confirms it.

Okay, *breathe* I think I will attempt to post one more time. I did not attack any posters on here at all. Not once. In fact, I feel like I’m the one being attacked, but that’s okay. Nor did I defend anyone–not even Paterno. I don’t condone anyone’s behavior in the entire scenario. I already clarified the mistake I typed in my original statement–I didn’t mean to say there was no rape–I meant that Paterno himself did not witness it. My one and only point was that we should be as accurate as possible in our claims and our anger. Yes, Sandusky did some deplorable things and should burn in hell. Yes, someone witnessed one of these actions in 2002. Yes, this witness’s father told Paterno something–but he didn’t tell him exactly what happened. What I was trying to do was very simple–I just meant to clarify that it was not Paterno who specifically was an eye witness, nor did he know the seriousness of what happened.

On top of being concerned for the children and their families who were directly affected by Sandusky, I have sympathy for innocent students at PSU who will also be affected by this fallout. The name of the entire university has been tarnished, which can affect the future opportunities for current PSU students. As I mentioned, I admire PSU’s women’s volleyball team. Russ Rose, their longtime coach and these dedicated and hard working young women–along with thousands of other PSU athletes and students–have had their college legacy damaged by the actions of greedy men. The volleyball team has won an unprecedented 4 nat’l championships in a row are in a good place to win an 5th. Now their program and legacy are sullied by the shame of a dirty administration. I think there are many victims in this situation, and it’s so very sad to see. But, I also think the university is doing a bad job of trying to hurry and ‘fix’ a sadly unfixable mistake to cover their asses for not acting sooner, and are only making it worse.

Of course Ashton knew why Paterno was fired. He’s just in the group of the people that think that since JoePa wasn’t the molester & is possibly the biggest person in the state of PA, that JoePa deserves a pass and should not have been fired. But that’s exactly why JoePa needed to be fired. If any one person had the clout to stop this – it was JoePa. And he ignored it. And then he thought that retiring at the end of the season was good enough. And some people seem to think that was good enough. Ashton’s one of those people and he wasn’t expecting the backlash to his comment. Idiot.

Is there any way that you can hire me to proofread your posts? I realize this isn’t The New Yorker or anything, but the title of this article says that, “Ashton Kutcher Quites Twitter.” Which, he probably actually just Quit Twitter.

Paterno deserves to be fired. He and Penn State sacrificed children on the altar of football. It is everybody’s duty to protect our children at all cost. Ashton wanted us to turn a blind eye because he has 8 million followers and is a celebrity. Well, he failed!

Ashton made a huge mistake and he admitted it and corrected himself. However, I think when you have over 8 million followers (what?!?) you need to be more responsible with the info you put out there. He learned a hard lesson.

And to those saying “how could you not know about this?” I didn’t know about any of it until last night because I could give a flying fig about football. So yes, it’s possible for someone not to know LOL

scarlet vixen, no, Paterno didn’t see the act in question, nor was it described to him as ‘anal intercourse’. However, when when of your graduate assistants tells you he’s seen a former coach in the Penn State shows doing something sexual to a very young boy, shouldn’t you be just a bit outraged?
Yes, Paterno reported it the ‘the authorities’, he basically did the minimum legal requirement. However, as to his moral requirement, he failed miserably. What’s the quote, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’? Paterno had great power, and decided not to follow up with the accusations. Was he the only one? No. But as the face of Penn State he’s going to have to take the heat as much as he took all that adulation for the last 1/2 century.
I.Have.No.Pity.For.Him.
None.

I am sorry if my comment came across as an attack in any way, I just felt that the witness statement basically described rape, not molestation or fondling.

That being said, what I just don’t get is how anyone could witness that act against a child and not walk into that shower and smack that sick twist upside the head about a hundred times with one hand while dialing 911 with the other.

@Becky – It’s not ONE person being pinned here. Spanier is GONE. Others will be GONE as well. This is not over. They got rid of Spanier at the same time as Paterno but no one is rioting over that. That is what the price of leadership is – you are responsible for the people you LEAD. If you do not to stop crimes committed by people under your leadership then you FAIL and should be gone as the BOT realized. That is not the kind of leadership an organization needs.

The leaders were NOT fired because they themselves committed legal crimes. You don’t have to be convicted of a legal crime to be dismissed from your job. You can get fired for failing to perform the way you are needed to perform. They were fired for their LEADERSHIP FAILURE. And let’s all admit that Paterno ran his own show. Sure he had “bosses” on paper but he had enough power to get rid of someone raping kids should he have wanted to wield that power but he didn’t and that’s his failure.

“But, I also think the university is doing a bad job of trying to hurry and ‘fix’ a sadly unfixable mistake to cover their asses for not acting sooner, and are only making it worse.”

So should they quietly sit by further and not act on other officials who should have acted sooner to stop a monster? When should they start to fix the school’s image? Why should they put off tomorrow what should be done today? Should they wait another 15 years to act? They can’t fix the past but to not start cleaning house immediately (not after “one more game”) would have done MORE damage and painted the school further as turn-the-other way and do-nothings.

Kutcher is a dumb ass. Anyone who knows that children are being abused and does nothing is a scumbag. If you report it and see that nothing is being done, you go to the Police, you do whatever it takes to stop the abuse. Paterno deserves to be fired.

hahaha people still twitter that’s so funny!! wow Ashton is getting old!!!

ya those penn state students are just trying to feel important and involved, but I bet if their little brother was the one being raped in the shower they would not have been so loud about saving a football coach.

Wow! I didn’t know that Penn State students approve of people who knowingly allow cover up cases of child rapists?

Those students really don’t get it, and I understand that. Ashton is on the same mentality level as the students. All bark and no book.

I read the Grand Jury report 2 nights ago and couldn’t sleep afterwards. I don’t know how anyone could not be extremely upset, outraged over this horrific crime and coverup. Like most of the other posters here, all I could think was, if I ever saw what the intern coach saw, I would look for the best implement I could find and cosh the the sick rapist Sandusky with it, and then scream my head off for help & call the cops. The behavior of these men is simply incomprehensible. The intern (who was extremely upset) went off to call his father, and they went to Joe-pa’s house the next day to tell him what he saw. There is no way in hell I will ever believe Joe-pa. We’re supposed to believe that after seeing Sandusky rape a little kid all he told his boss was that he saw some “sexual horseplay”??? Are you f*cking kidding me??? I’m not buying it, and neither are most people. Furthermore, they allowed this monster to keep abusing boys. For those of you that think that Paterno didn’t know “how serious it was” and that “he did his legal duty”, kindly go read the Grand Jury report, which is all over the web. Paterno was clearly given a pass for his lame ass, lying testimony. He should have been charged with perjury and child endangerment. And even if you’re right (which I don’t for a moment believe) and he wasn’t told it was anal sex, but sexual horseplay, still…all he does is tell his boss and that’s ok with you? He knows that Sandusky is still allowed access to the Univ. and still running a childrens program and seen all over the place with boys? Bullsh*t! This was done to protect the football team, and Joe-pa is as guilty as the other univ officials becuz they covered it up and let Sandusky keep doing it!!! God in heaven, how can you not understand this? Also, I don’t believe the bs line that he did his “legal duty”. Are we to believe that Pennsylvania is that backwards? I have 3 relatives that work for LAUSD. If they knew of something like that & didn’t report it to the cops, their asses would handed to them in a NY minute.

Kaiser, excellent writing, as usual. Sorry my rant is so long. This is so upsetting.

Woopsies. My bad. I take back my reasonable doubt for Asston. This sounds like an obviously huge and horrendous story. There’s no way he could not have known if he posted a link. What a loser. As are those idiots rioting in support of the fired coach.

Another point from the intern/grad students testimony: he was in the locker room at 9:30 pm to put away some shoes & he heard a “slapping sound” coming from the showers. He said it sounded sexual and he looked in there and saw Sandusky anally assaulting what looked like a ten year old boy. He was horrified and went to call his dad to ask him what to do.

He remembers that kind of detail many years later, but we’re supposed to believe that he didn’t tell Paterno the full story? And if what a poster upthread said is true, that Paterno stopped him from telling him, how does that mean he didn’t know? If that’s true, he’s still guilty, he still knew he was molesting boys, and allowed to continue.

@Hmmm: I have already stated that everything I had read/heard up to the point of my possting has said Paterno was unaware of specific details of the incident. For example: “We don’t know exactly what McQueary, now an assistant coach at Penn State, said to whom. We do know that he told his father then called head coach Paterno to speak to him. What exactly did McQueary tell Paterno? In a statement released Sunday night, Paterno says, “It was obvious that [McQueary] was distraught over what he saw, but he at no time related to me the very specific actions contained in the grand jury report.’” Whether this is accurate or not noone is yet sure. I’m still not sure where people are getting the idea that I’m a Paterno lover and defender of anyone in the situation. In fact, I’m curious as to why people aren’t in an equal uproar as to why McQueary–who also didn’t take what he knew any further–is still employed at PSU and probably going to be coaching this weekend.

And what exactly do you mean by my ‘putative’ background? What part of my background are you attempting to call into question? Would you like a full timeline and bio? Eyewitnesses perhaps?

“In fact, I’m curious as to why people aren’t in an equal uproar as to why McQueary–who also didn’t take what he knew any further–is still employed at PSU and probably going to be coaching this weekend.”
from superficial:
“Why is no one calling for Mike McQueary to be fired?!”
You have to admire the simpletons that try to turn this into an either/or situation thanks to a brain mushified from watching men in tights move a ball down a field four hours on end. You can want Paterno fired AND McQueary fired at the same time. (I just blew your mind, I know.) They should both go down, especially McQueary who apparently sees kids being raped and doesn’t go, “Hey, stop raping that kid.” How do you even justify that? “Well, your honor, the old guy might accidentally bump into my pants with his naked erection. My hands were tied.”
I’m not calling you a simpleton, but I still think you’re trying to make excuses for someone who doesn’t deserve them.

@cr: Wow, what you just said didn’t make much sense at all. Who is trying to make this an either/or situation? Certainly not me. And I don’t even know where you were going with the whole “brain turned to mush by guys in tight pants football” gibberish. I specifically stated more than once that I’m not a PSU football fan. Now that I think of it, I don’t know why I’m bothering to respond, so I’ll just stop now.

“The graduate assistant went to his office and called his father, reporting to him what he had seen. His father told the graduate assistant to leave the building and come to his home. The graduate assistant and his father decided that the graduate assistant had to promptly report what he had seen to Coach Joe Paterno (“Paterno”), head football coach of Penn State. The next morning, a Saturday, the graduate assistant telephoned Paterno and went to Paterno’s home, where he reported what he had seen.”

NOTE: HE REPORTED WHAT HE HAD SEEN.

I know Paterno is contradicting this sworn testimony of the grad asst. with his bullshit watered down version. Not buying it, and I think the only reason that Grand Jury let him get away with it is due to his “legend” status.

Kutcher’s comments were vile, but I give him credit for apologizing promptly and effusively.

I’m not American so I don’t understand the cult of college football that is motivating the controversy about Paterno being fired. Riots? To protest the firing of someone who enabled a sexual predator to skirt the law? That’s gross. PSU students have their priorities all effed-up.

It’s disgusting that some commenters here are interpreting statements, splitting hairs, and postulating motives for the cover-up of sexual assault on children. The PSU employee handbook should be amended to include the instruction that “If you see a naked adult having physical contact with a child, call the police” and “If you learn from one of your employees that a naked adult had physical contact with a child, you should set aside your professional ambitions, and call the police even if it means the university’s reputation is besmirched.”

“Who is trying to make this an either/or situation? Certainly not me. And I don’t even know where you were going with the whole “brain turned to mush by guys in tight pants football” gibberish.” That’s not my quote, that’s from the superficial, not enough time to edit the quote.
I apologize if I’m reading your statements on McQueary as an either/or.
As for your earlier statements of concern for those connected with Penn State who have nothing to do with this (which is most everyone), they’ll be alright.
Perhaps I’m weird, but I don’t think every Catholic I meet is a pedophile (or supporting a pedophile), I don’t think that everyone connected with other Universities with scandals is supportive of that behavior, etc.

i’m European and football isn’t even a thing in my coulture, yet i saw the headlines (okay, i do browse Gawker and Jezebel) and relized the gist of it just by them. how much time do you need to hear this: Joe patterno was fired because he knew about child predator in his lines and didn’t speak up.
that’s not even a minute.
so…if he was that ignorant, then he’s a living miracle, a (seemingly) normal functioning person with no brain!
so, congratulations Mr. Kutcher; you’re either the World’s Biggest Dumbass or the World’s Biggest Douchebag of the year!

So, I’ve stepped away from this thread for awhile and done some really hard thinking. I will once again repeat that I am not defending Mr Paterno, nor anyone else in this situation. I think the motivator behind my wanting clarification as to what was said and how people involved reacted is my perhaps naive desire to want to believe the best in people. I still try to believe in this country’s “innocent until proven guilty.” As I mentioned in previous posts, my family has experienced the destruction that molestation can create, so I feel so much sympathy for the children involved. I also admitted that I was sexually assaulted by a military commander at 21. Until today I had never told anyone except my husband. I never turned in my commander, so I guess while I was a victim I was also a McQueary or Paterno in that situation. I watched my commander take interest in other female soldiers, and I still never did anything out of shame and fear. I convinced myself that because I had put myself in the position to be assaulted that I was the one in the wrong. I was afraid that because he was an officer I would be the one punished and everyone would find out. So, I learned to belittle what actually happened to me, to explain it away. It became, “Well, I was drunk. He didn’t know what he was doing. It wasn’t that big of a deal. He won’t do it again.” I even started to believe the untruths I’d been telling myself for years.

Even after some of the things I’ve experienced and witnessed in my life I still want to believe that most people do what they think is the best they can at the time. I WANT to believe that someone who has done so much for a school and so many students tried his best and didn’t just sweep it under the rug. I’m sorry if this has offended some of you. That really wasn’t my intention. I just…I guess I’m just still in denial, and wish so many other students and athletes aren’t also being tarnished by this whole debacle.

Regarding Ashton, yes, his comment was stupid, but he did at least apologize for it right away, which is more than you can say for a lot of the people connected to the tragedy at Penn U. He’s certainly not a great actor (although I think he does good commercials), but I have never heard anything other than that he is always nice to crews and casts of the shows he’s been on. I don’t like Twitter in any event, celebs should really back off of it, it does make a lot of them look dumb.

“I WANT to believe that someone who has done so much for a school and so many students tried his best and didn’t just sweep it under the rug. I’m sorry if this has offended some of you. That really wasn’t my intention. I just…I guess I’m just still in denial, and wish so many other students and athletes aren’t also being tarnished by this whole debacle.”
It’s not offense, it’s confusion. The people at Penn State who aren’t involved in this will be fine, so don’t worry about them. Really, I’m not trying to be sarcastic, but don’t worry about them. The volleyball team will be ok, the grad students will be ok, etc. They’re not the ones needing your worry and sympathy.
Why didn’t Joe P really do anything? Who knows? Perhaps a younger Joe P would have done something. But this Joe P didn’t, just as there were so many who could have and didn’t. And didn’t do so over an extended period of time. And it’s the extended period of time that gets me, I can actually understand the initial failure to do something, there’s a lot of shock involved (and most of us really have no idea what we’d actually do if we came across a situation like McQueary did, despite how we hope we’d act). But to sweep it under the rug for years? Joe P was part of that institutional failure, and I’m still not going to give him a pass.
geekychic, we’re not the only country that riots over sports. Though usually alcohol is involved, not sports and politics. But for the US, college football is very very big business, very lucrative to those teams that are consistently successful, such as Penn State.

Incidentally, I attended Penn State as an undergraduate. I never went to a football game…I hate football! Anyway, needless to say, I was an odd one out not worshipping Paterno or the Nittany Lions. The best thing about home games was the fact that all stores in the area were deserted…a great time to go shopping!

Ashton Kutcher is an idiot. This is the problem with twitter. Too many people tweet first, and ask questions later. But, I’m much more appalled by the students rioting in defense of Paterno. In 10 years when many of those students have kids of their own, they will look back at their defense of Joe Paterno with shame. Have any of the rioters actually read the grand jury report? I did, and it’s sickening. The fact that so many adults willfully ignored the abuse of children blows my mind. This case, along with the one where 18 people walked by and ignored a 2 year girl that had been run over not once, but twice, by two seprate trucks (both drivers fled) makes me start to lose faith in humanity.

1. Ashton is an idiot. I can’t even fathom discussing his random acts of idiocy that consistent.

2. PS reputation has been tarnished. As to why the graduate student (at the time) did not stop what he witnessed, completely flummoxed and indignant that he did not stop it nor did the proper officials, including Paterno, immediately take strong action with the authorities. Not the school, the police. I am absolutely heartbroken for the victims and their families.

3. PS is a big football team and a big deal in general due to their football excellence. There are politics involved, it’s not scratching anyone’s back but the right one to get money and more promotion to keep a dynasty going after decades.
Several politicians have withdrawn Paterno for a national medal and rightfully so.

gee…. are you fucking kidding me? Okay, Paterno reported it. And as soon as he saw nothing was done he should have gone to the police, regardless of Penn State authorities. This wasn’t a suspicion of abuse. This guy was caught sodomizing a 10 year old boy in the showers of Penn State. As far as I’m concerned every single person involved in that cover-up is an accessory and should be tried and thrown in jail as such.

Those students should be rioting because these men haven’t been held accountable for these actions before now, even if right now these are just allegations. Abusing children in any way is NOT OK, and the fact that they care more about a football coach than abused children is just another sign as to why America is circling the drain.

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